CorkSport’s 7th Gear Membership – Is It Right For You?

Mazda car community

We created 7th Gear for a few reasons…

To be transparent, we know our 7th Gear Membership creates brand loyalty – nothing wrong with that – but there is so much more to the program, a lot more.

We wanted our customers to shift the money they were spending on shipping and refocus those funds into their rides. Aftermarket car parts can be a bit expensive, and on average, these parts tend to be physically LARGE, HEAVY, or BOTH. Shipping these items across the country is not cheap despite our negotiated rates and can easily run you approximately ~$30-$80 when ordering a few aftermarket parts or a full catback exhaust. We feel it, too.

With our 7th Gear Membership, you receive a welcome package with merch and stickers, plus free shipping in the lower 48 states or discounted shipping everywhere else. The free or discounted shipping begins on your very 1st purchase and continues across the next 364 days following your date of purchase.

In addition, we created a community – Our Exclusive 7th Gear Facebook Group – to share information, chase performance freely, and discuss the variety, frustrations, and general love for your Mazda platform. It’s a place where everyone can openly ask questions without getting crucified in the process or having to decipher a bunch of misinformation.

We expect our members to uphold the spirit of our page and avoid the unnecessary pot-stirring, personal pissing matches, and general vendor bashing that tends to ruin other pages and negatively impact the Mazda Community. We love the support and information-sharing members provide to their fellow enthusiasts – even if this is your first Mazda, you are an OG Mazdaspeed owner, or you just purchased one of Mazda’s latest models!

Most of all – the TOXIC behavior you find on many other pages does not exist here!

mazda miata on the tail of the dragon

Fast Forward 6 + Years Later

7th Gear’s Inner Circle is far from just another “Car Page!” It has strengthened the larger Mazda community, too! Some of our members have been with us since 2017, and others have been done with their build years ago, but each of them continues to renew their membership just to be part of the 7th Gear Facebook page. No doubt, that says something,

Our 7th Gear Members continue to actively share and support others in and outside our page and, in many cases, are driving performance within their platform. They love the atmosphere of the group and know they can seek information as a newbie or an experienced mechanic without sarcasm or ridicule.

It should be of no surprise that we also tend to hand-pick our sponsored drivers from our 7th Gear Members to represent our brand.

On the flip side, many of our members renew their membership off and on over time as they continue chasing that perfect set-up or as their car evolves from a modified daily driver to a full-on-track car.

OK, OK, OK, So What Does It Cost & What Do I Get ?

7th Gear Cost

The cost is relative to the purchase you are about to make and your future plans for your Mazda. Let us explain.

Example 1: You purchase a Cat Back Exhaust, shipping from Vancouver, WA, to your garage in Metairie, Louisiana.

Cost of 7th Gear – The Shipping Cost of Your Current Order = Your True Cost of 7th Gear

$99.99 – $89.63 = $10.36 is the True Cost of Your 7th Gear Membership

That’s right! You receive the hat, shirt, stickers, access to the 7th Gear Facebook Page, and free shipping in the lower 48 states for a year – all for an additional $10.36. That, my friends, is an absolutely smoking deal, especially if you are planning to continue modifying your car over the next year.

Example 2: You just picked up a 2022 Turbo Mazda 3 and ready to start your mod journey. As your 1st purchase, you order a Turbo Short Ram Intake and a Heat Shield Shipping from Vancouver, WA, to your garage in Butler, Pennsylvania.

You already know that you plan on picking up Lowering Springs, Turbo Inlet Pipe, Down Pipe, and a Cat Back Exhaust over the next year.

Cost of 7th Gear – The Shipping Cost of Your Current Order = Your True Cost of 7th Gear

$99.99 – $43.35 = $56.64 is the True Cost of Your 7th Gear Membership

For an additional $56.64, you will receive free shipping on all your future orders over the next 364 days, plus the 7th Gear Welcome Pack and, of course, access to the Exclusive 7th Gear Facebook Page. It is a sound investment – to make now, not later down the road, as the membership will have already paid for itself by your second or third order.

Example 3: You have been slowly modifying your daily, but you are now ready to wake up the car and your neighbors with a full 80mm Cat Back Exhaust. Shipping from Vancouver, WA, to your garage in Clintonville, Wisconsin.

Cost of 7th Gear – The Shipping Cost of Your Current Order = Your True Cost of 7th Gear

$99.99 – $110.06 = Your 7th Gear Membership just SAVED YOU $10.07 on this order!

This situation is obviously a customer favorite – You quickly realize, by adding a 7th Gear Membership to your order that you are not only receiving free shipping on your 1st order, plus the swag, and getting access to the 7th Gear Group, but you are also

Essentially, you received free shipping and a small discount on your exhaust order on day one, plus all future orders over the next 364 days will continue to ship for free.

It’s not hard to see across all examples that our 7th Gear Membership not only PAYS FOR ITSELF in a very short amount of time, but it also continues to save you money over the entire year.

7th Gear Welcome Swag Package:

7th Gear Benefits:

  • Free shipping in the lower 48 states or discounted shipping everywhere else.
  • The free or discounted shipping begins on your very 1st purchase and continues across the next 364 days following your date of purchase.
  • Exclusive access to our 7th Gear Facebook Page – This page is a membership favorite!
    • Occasionally
      • We offer closeout deals or special discounts on blemished parts
      • Share insider information
      • New products are almost always released here 1st
  • Free Renewal Gift if you choose to continue your membership for a consecutive year.
Mazda 3 car cruise at the tail of the dragon

What About the 5% back in CorkSport Points – Do I Still Get Those?

Absolutely! Regardless of whether you are a 7th Gear Member or not, you still earn ~5% back on your parts purchase – with a free registered account – to be used towards future purchases.

We do understand, however, that memberships are not for everyone – and that is AOK. But for those who have and continue to utilize the 7th Gear benefits and are actively supporting the 7th Gear Page – They are LOVING IT!

I will leave you with a few quotes from some current members:

.

Joining this group has been one of the best decisions I have made. Tons of new friends, adventures, and a wealth of knowledge have been gained since joining. Cheers to more fun times ahead!

Brayden


Honestly the best $100 I’ve ever spent I’m my 42 years of existence on mother earth! This group of car enthusiasts is more like family than anything else.

~ Santiago


You guys are awesome! Can’t wait to renew my membership next year and see how much you guys grow as a community! And the stickers!!

~ Colby


I really enjoy the community on here too! Everyone is very nice in my experience and very helpful as well. Keep up the good work!

~ Rose
CorkSport 7th Gear Image

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The Easy Boost Gauge Reference Adapter for the 2021+ Mazda 3

Getting accurate readings for your Mazda Skyactiv 2.5L turbo is nearly impossible. Now your boost & vacuum signal for your 4th generation 2021+ Mazda 3 turbo just got so much easier with the CorkSport Boost Reference Adapter. Designed for all Skyactiv 2.5L Turbo models, adding a boost gauge could not be easier!

CorkSport Boost Reference Adapter Mazda 3 Skyactiv 2.5L Turbo

Mazda, We Have A Problem

While we are all grateful that Mazda finally put a turbo in the 4th GEN Mazda 3, they did not see fit to include a boost gauge of any type for the driver. Adding a boost gauge to your Mazda 3 Turbo (or other Mazda models with the 2.5L turbo engine) is now easy with the CorkSport Boost Reference Adapter & CorkSport Boost Gauge!

Mazda 3 Boost Reference Adapter with MAP sensor installed

The Challenge

The challenge with Mazda’s design is that they didn’t provide a port to get boost and vacuum signal from your Skyactiv Turbocharged engine.  Why?!  It’s a mystery to us. Since data is crucial to improving performance, we wanted a solution to get this information.   It quickly became apparent to our engineers that we needed a bolt-on solution that provides the world with the missing link!

The Mazda 3 Turbo 4th Gen Boost Reference Adapter with Map sensor installed

A Bolt On Solution

The CorkSport Boost Reference Block provides a very simple way to source boost and vacuum from the intake manifold post intercooler. This gives you the best possible boost signal right as the airflow enters the engine.

The installation is easy. The bolt-on design allows you to simply attach your boost gauge hose to the barb fitting once the adapter block is installed! Boom! Now that the problem has also been solved, let’s build a better Mazda 3 Turbo!

Upgrade your 4th Gen Mazda 3 Turbo with the essential Boost Reference Adapter. It gives you precise readings to help boost your Mazda’s performance.

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A Better Design for the Mazda 3 Turbo Upgrade – Housing Design

2024 looks to be freaking fantastic for the Mazda 3 Turbo performance enthusiast, and here’s why.  CorkSport has been diligently developing a Drop-in Performance Turbo Upgrade for the SkyActiv-G 2.5L Turbo engine alongside the dozens of Mazda 3 performance parts we have released to the community.  

With recent rumblings of a reworked OEM turbo option circulating through social media, we thought it was time to officially share the R&D we have been quietly working on.

Best Mazda 3 Turbo Upgrade replacement turbo design by CorkSport

As you can see, we have a 100% complete and new design in the 3D CAD model above. We are developing a performance turbo upgrade from scratch with larger and performance-optimized housings, CHRA, and wheels, all designed to work together. 

Choosing this design path takes a lot more time, effort, and money to create a finished product. Despite the increased resource requirements, this is what it takes to develop an efficient and reliable performance drop-in turbo for the Mazda community. Now, let’s apply some context to that statement.

Back in 2018, we wrote a couple of blogs dissecting the OEM turbo found on the Mazda 6 2.5T.  At that time the Mazda 3 did not have a turbo option yet.  

Read the posts

We inspected the housings, wheels, CHRA, and Mazda’s “Dynamic Pressure” system. We quickly realized that the OEM turbo would be a HUGE limitation on the Mazda Turbo engine’s performance – even once tuning was fully available. Fast forward to the announcement of the Mazda 3 Turbo option, and we got to work on an improved turbo design.

Best CorkSport Mazda 3 Turbo Upgrade with Larger Turbine

Hybrid Compressor Wheel (left) 50.4mm Inducer & 63.3mm Exducer with extended tip vs OEM ~43mm Inducer & ~56mm Exducer

OEM Mazda 3 Turbo extruder and inducer

Hybrid Turbine Wheel (left) 50.2mm Inducer & 45.5mm Exducer vs OEM ~47mm Inducer & ~41mm Exducer

The Issues of a Hybrid Turbo

One of the first steps we took was building a “hybrid” OEM turbo to see how that would perform vs the OEM turbo.  A hybrid turbo means an OEM turbo that has been modified to use larger than OEM wheels.  Above you can see the larger compressor and turbine wheels next to the OEM wheels. 

Our testing showed some potential with a “hybrid” setup turbo, but there were still limitations to the power potential.  We saw a bit slower spool and a bit more mid-range power potential, but top-end power was still struggling to hold.  Granted this was very early in the tuning developments for the platform. 

A major concern we had was around the hybrid turbo, was the reliability and further cracking of the OEM housing once it was modified for the larger wheels.  The OEM turbine housing is very small, specifically the turbine scroll which is the most critical part of the turbine housing.  The OEM housing just didn’t have a lot of extra material to work with (remove) to safely accommodate a larger turbine wheel. 

Mazda 3 Turbo Inlet Housing reliability

Check out this image of the turbine housing after it was machined to accept the larger turbine wheel.  The thin edge marked by the blue arrows is very thin due to removing so much material.  This area of the turbine funnels the exhaust gases into the turbine wheel inducer and directly affects the efficiency of the wheel.  Had we machined any more material for a larger wheel, we would have started to affect how the exhaust gases enter the turbine wheel.  

OEM Mazda 3 Turbo housing crack for inlet pipe

In the image above, the inlet divider inside the turbine housing is cracking. In the image below, an internal portion of the scroll is cracking as seen through the wastegate port. 

OEM Mazda 3 Turbo Housing Crack for the wastegate port

We’ve already seen OEM housings cracking from normal use, so the idea of thinning the turbine housing in critical areas did not seem like the right approach for a performance turbo upgrade.

A hybrid turbo may have a place in the performance aftermarket and it may have some performance benefits (if the housing is up to the task), but if we are going to stand behind the product; we are going to develop it from the ground up to proactively eliminate reliability concerns.

So that’s exactly what we are doing!

Our Development Expertise

Leaning on our development expertise with the CST Turbo line for the Mazdaspeed platform, we are designing a new turbo from scratch for the Mazda 3 Turbo and other models that share the same engine. 

2021+ Mazda 3 turbo performance-turbo upgrade CAD

Starting from the ground up gives us the ability to optimize the turbo for performance applications.  Like the Mazdaspeed CST Turbo line, we can directly control the size of the housings, CHRA, wheels, wastegate, material thickness, and material type.  

Designing the Mazda 3 Turbo

Now let’s dive into the design of the housings for the upcoming Mazda 3 Turbo upgrade. Starting with the compressor housing; A LOT is going on with the compressor housing design.  We call this a feature-rich part and you can see why below. 

Mazda 3 Turbo Compressor Front Face design

The OEM compressor housing (right) has a handful of integrated features: the obvious compressor inlet and outlets, the electronic wastegate mounting, the electronic bypass valve, and the EVAP/Breather port.  When designing a performance drop-in turbo, our goal is to retain all these OEM features so that installation and use are very simple and easy. 

Alongside the OEM features are the changes we have made to increase performance potential which includes a slightly larger scroll A/R of 0.60.  Note: This even exceeds our CST Turbos and has been proven to be responsive and support a flow of 700whp.  

Mazda 3 Turbo and CX-30 Turbo Upgrade Model

Here you can see the blue lines showing the larger compressor scroll.  CorkSport is on the left and OEM is on the right. Increasing the size of the scroll A/R helps improve the compressor wheel efficiency and max flow capacity.  Along with a larger scroll, we have also designed the housing to have either a stock-size inlet or a 3.5” anti-surge inlet for the larger turbo option.  

Yup…there’s going to be more than one size available. More on that later…

To do this we have to move some things around, but don’t you worry every part of this development is verified on a car with 3D printed prototypes and then functional prototypes.  This is a critical part of the development to make sure everything fits like OEM but punches like the hot hatch we all asked Mazda for.  

Test Fitment for the Best Turbo for 2021+ Mazda 3 Turbo upgrade

A Larger Responsive Turbo

Now let’s check out the party side of the turbo…the turbine housing. In my personal opinion, turbines make power and compressors just support the required flow.  So what are we doing on the turbine side of things to make more power? 

Several changes have been applied on the turbine side to increase performance and reliability.  Here are the CorkSport (left) and OEM (right) turbine housings next to each other.  

CorkSprot Masda 3 Turbo Drop-in Turbo Upgrade Design

Our goal is to develop a turbo that is fun, responsive, and carries power like you would expect.  Referencing the blue lines you can see a drastic difference in the size of the turbine housing scroll.  While the CS design is a large increase in size over OEM, it is not “bigger” than a typical aftermarket generic fitment turbo – highlighting just how tiny and limiting the OEM turbine housing really is. 

Now let’s take a look inside the housing so you can understand what is changing. 

2021 Mazda 3 drop in turbo CorkSport cutaway design

An Improved Design

Both turbines (CS & OEM) are single scroll designs, but you will notice two major differences.  

Firstly, the spiral section of the CS design is drastically larger than OEM; this is the true “scroll” of the housing and thus the section of the housing that funnels the exhaust gas into the turbine wheel.  We changed two aspects of the scroll design: 

  1. The “swallowing capacity” of the scroll has been increased so that the peak flow capacity of the turbine is much greater than OEM. This is the cross-sectional area at the beginning of the scroll shown by the blue arrow. 
  2. The scroll A/R (Area/Radius) has been increased from 0.53 to 0.71.  This ratio number affects how “quickly” the exhaust gas is forced into the turbine wheel.  The smaller ratio is a faster spool but poor top-end power and a larger is slower spool but more top-end power.  The goal here is to find the right balance of spool/response and top-end power.  

Second, you may have noticed the CS turbo is missing the red blocky section that the OEM turbo has.  It’s missing for good reason. 

Mazda 6 Turbo AWD Example

In the above image, you can see the OEM turbo with the turbo on the right and the dynamic pressure valve on the left.  Mazda uses this control valve to help spool the turbo below 2000 RPM and it seems to do the job, but it has cracking issues from what we’ve seen and is going to be a huge flow restriction on higher power setups. 

We are getting rid of it!

Mazda 3 turbo upgrade without the dynamic valve

The Pursuit of Reliable Performance

In the pursuit of performance and reliability, the dynamic valve and its housing had to go.  Like the OEM turbine housing, we’ve seen cracks forming in the dynamic valve housings so we know they are a reliability issues and Mazda knows as well. 

Mazda is also getting rid of the dynamic valve system…the CX50 Turbo has a much simpler twin-scroll turbo design with no dynamic valve and I assume that change will find its way into all 2.5T models sooner, rather than later. 

Mazda 3 Dynamic Valve Housing Prototype for 2021+ Mazda 3 Turbo

To keep things as simple as possible for you, the enthusiast, the CorkSport-designed turbine housing mounts directly to the cylinder head and still takes advantage of Mazda’s trick 4-3-1 exhaust port design.  Along with that change, the OEM EGR port is retained and new heat shields will be part of the kit.  

That covers the housings for the upcoming CorkSport Drop-In Turbo Upgrade for the Mazda 3 Turbo.  We are excited about this project and even more excited to bring this to the community.  Who doesn’t love boost right? 

Expect to hear more as we roll further into 2024 and until then enjoy these teaser shots of the raw castings. 

2021+ Mazda 3 Turbo Compressor Housing
CorkSport Mazda 3 Turbo Turbine Housing Prototype

-Barett @ CS

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The Rear End Drivetrain – Mazdaspeed 3 AWD Swap ( Part 5)

Welcome to part 5 of the Mazdaspeed3 AWD Swap (sorry for the delay; things got really busy for a bit)! This blog covers the rear-end drivetrain and the huge modification that makes it all work.  

There are a lot of images and explanations of those images so you can see and understand the differences between the Mazdaspeed 6 and CX7 rear drivetrain.    

What is the Rear Differential

Jumping right into it, let’s identify what the rear differential is. The rear differential transfers power from the transfer case via a PTO/driveshaft, through the ring and pinion, out to the axles, and then to the wheels and tires.

Mazdaspeed 3 AWD Rear Differential Swap Comparison Mazdaspeed vs CX7
CX-7 vs Mazdaspeed Differential Comparison

However, as with many modern AWD systems in compact cars, there is a clutch mechanism between the PTO/driveshaft and the differential. This clutch mechanism controls the percentage of engine torque transferred to the rear tires.

In the diagram below, we’ve identified the two major sections of the differential assembly. The line demonstrates the connection point between the two sections. The rear section is the gear housing, and the front is the clutch housing.

Differential Gear Housing and clutch housing diagram

Now that you understand the differential assembly. Let’s identify the difference between Mazdaspeed 6 and CX7. There are two major differences.

Differences In Differential

The first difference is the clutch housing mounting points for the front subframe mounting brackets. In the image below, you will see two mounting points with threaded holes on the right side of the differential, while the other differential does not have those mounting points.

The CX7 differential is on the left, and the Speed 6 is on the right. The CX7 on the left)has TWO front mounting points whereas, the Speed 6 only has a ONE mount. While this may not be a big deal for a daily driver with modest power levels, it’s a huge advantage for a racecar with nearly 900whp.  

Comparison of CX7 and Mazdaspeed 6 differential side by side
Left to Right: CX-7 and Mazdaspeed Differential

Moving to the inside of the gear housings, the CX7 uses an open differential setup, vs the Mazdaspeed 6, uses a Mazda proprietary LSD (limited slip differential). The LSD is more desirable because it will provide better power distribution to both rear tires vs the open differential.

Fun Fact: the Mazda-developed LSD uses “friction cone washers” sandwiched between the spider gears and differential carrier housing to create the limited slip effect. As load is applied through the spider gears, the increased load presses the spider gears against the friction washer, which makes this a very street-friendly and progressive type of LSD. Check it out below. 

Mazdaspeed limited slip differential
Mazdaspeed limited slip differential

So here we are at a point where we need to use the CX7 differential because it has the ideal two-mounting front section, and we have a CX7 subframe, so…duh, but we want the rear LSD for better power distribution.

Time to split these differentials in half and see if we can swap things around. 

Mazdaspeed 3 AWD Differential Swap separated
Rear Differential Separated

Splitting them in half to separate the clutch housing and gear housing, we can see a splined connection that interlocks the two halves.

Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Differential Gear Housing
Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Differential Gear Housing

On the gear housing side, the pinion gears are retained by an internal nut, which is good because splitting the assemblies did not affect the pre-load on the bearings.

Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Differential Clutch Housing
Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Differential Clutch Housing

Let’s look at the clutch housing side. The clutch pack is retained by the external nut on the driveshaft flange; again, splitting the assemblies did not affect any bearing pre-load.

Things are looking great!  And with that, we assembled the CX7 clutch housings with the Speed6 gear housings without issues!  

Now to review: if you are doing this swap, you will NEED a CX7 rear differential assembly, but you DO NOT NEED a speed6 rear differential assembly. We only did that to learn and to get the LSD. You can use the CX7 as is because the gear ratio is the same, and the LSD is not required. 

Next up are the suspension trailing arms; when using the OEM Speed3 suspension, the trailing arms need to be modified to use the OEM CX7 wheel bearings.

Modifying the Trail Arms of the Mazdaspeed

Mazdaspeed 3 trailing arm plate
Mazdaspeed 3 Trailing Arm Plate

The OEM trailing arm has a beefy steel plate welded to the stamped steel structure. While the bolt and center holes look correct, they are slightly different in bore and location.

Mazdaspeed 3 trailing arm showing fitment
Mazdaspeed Trailing Arm

To make the Mazdaspeed 3 trailing arm work, modification was needed via welding the original bolt holes shut and then redrilling the holes in the correct bolt pattern for the CX7 wheel bearing.  Along with that, the center bore diameter had to be increased slightly as well.  

New Welded Holes for the Mazdaspeed 
 fitting cx7 bearings
New Welded Holes for the Mazdaspeed
Fitment of the Rear Trailing Arms & CX7 Wheel Bearing
Fitment of the Rear Trailing Arms & CX7 Wheel Bearing

Modifying the rear trailing arms is only 1 of 3 major fabrication projects needed for the AWD swap.  The others are building a Rear Motor Mount (which I designed a badass billet one for) and the center driveshaft mounting plate which I also designed.  

Now, with the trailing arms and wheel bearings in place, we can finally figure out the rear axle lengths. Checking both the Speed 6 and CX7 rear OEM axles, I found they use the same wheel bearing and differential inputs, which is great. However, The lengths are not the same.

Mazdaspeed 6 Differential Spline Length
Mazdaspeed 6 Differential Spline Length
Mazda CX-7 Differential Spline Length
Mazda CX-7 Differential Spline Length

Unfortunately, in test fitting the Speed 6 and CX7, we found that both needed to be shorter for the Speed 3 application. With that fact, the cost is a lot more expensive for anyone swapping because of the needed custom rear axles.

I was personally going to get custom rear axles either way due to the power levels and use of the Halfmilespeed3, but it’s not a requirement. 

Rear Custom Axles for the Mazdaspeed 3
700WHP Rated Custom Rear Axles

Fast forward many weeks, and we have a set of custom-length 700WHP-rated rear axles to compliment the front DSS 5.9 axles.

Rear Custom Axles installed on the 2007-2009 Mazdaspeed 3
Mazdaspeed 3 Rear Axles installed

All bolted in and looking great!  While doing this I learned a few things and realized that one of my assumptions was wrong. 

  1. The front axles work and don’t work from the MS3.  The driver front MS3 axles will interface perfectly with the Mazdaspeed6 transmission.  However, the inboard CV housing/spline section for the passenger side front will need to be replaced/modified to work with the speed6 intermediate shaft.  
  2. The rear ABS sensor for the Mazdaspeed3 will not work with a Speed6-style ABS trigger wheel. They use a much different and more modern magnetic trigger wheel incorporated in the rear ABS sensor for the Mazdaspeed3 will not work with a Speed6-style ABS trigger wheel. They use a much different and more modern magnetic trigger wheel incorporated inside the wheel bearings…which we don’t have when using the CX7 wheel bearings. This has led me to develop custom ABS trigger wheels to work with the OEM Mazdaspeed 3 sensor. More on that later.

Alright, that wraps up the rear drivetrain setup.  There are plenty more huge milestones to overcome, which are coming up in this multi-part blog series! 

I hope you are enjoying this series about the Mazdaspeed 3 AWD Swap. Stay tuned for more blogs to come!

You can also find updates on my IG @halfmilespeed3, the CorkSport 7th Gear Membership, and on mazdaspeeds.org.

Thanks for tuning in!

-Barett @ CS

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Mazdaspeed 3 X-Clutch First Review

Many community members are asking, “What clutch should I buy for my Speed3/Speed6?” or “What’s the best clutch for Mazdaspeed 3/6?” and there isn’t a perfect answer because the right answer depends on your goals with your car. 

While I can’t say what the best clutch is, I can share my experience to date with my Twin Ceramic Rigid Disc X-Clutch in my Mazdaspeed 3.  

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

First Impressions

Opening the box I found a very well-packaged assembled clutch kit.  This included the assembled pressure plate, discs, and flywheel along with a new throw-out bearing, flywheel to crank bolts, and a nice alignment tool. XClutch also included some generic instructions – They certainly don’t rival CorkSport instructions, but are better than most clutch instructions I have used.  

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

Getting into it

Disassembling the clutch assembly I found some nicely constructed components.  The material fit and finish was great along with the identification of transmission vs engine side of the discus laser engraved was a nice touch. 

Something worth noting: Some clutch kits come to you in separate pieces. This makes you 100% dependent on their instructions for the assembly process (and a lot of times those instructions are lacking), but with the XClutch the whole thing came assembled.  I like this because it gave me the chance to see how it was assembled and therefore made me more confident I would assemble it correctly on the engine.  

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

Now let’s get the clutch on the engine. After disassembling the clutch kit, the first part to go on the engine is the flywheel after a quick cleaning of the machine parts and surfaces.  Using the provided hardware and some lock-tight the flywheel gets torqued down.  The flywheel was a perfect fit on the snout of the crank…a little persuasion was needed which tells me the flywheel will be perfectly centered.  

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

Next is the first clutch disc (make sure you can read “transmission side”) then the middle floater plate.  Following that is the next clutch disc (and again make sure you can read “transmission side”) along with the provided alignment tool. 

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

The Tool

So I want to take a minute to talk about the alignment tool.  I’ve installed many clutches in many vehicles throughout my life ranging from an OE replacement in my 92’ Mazda b2600i, Mazdaspeed3, and a twin-disc in a Dodge.  Every single kit came with the generic plastic alignment tool that doesn’t fit great and flexes.  

But not X-Clutch, their kit included a very nice billet steel alignment tool that fit snugs and did not sag or move when installed.  This seemingly simple tool made a huge difference in the whole installation process.  

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

Back to the install steps; next up is the pressure plate floater plate.  Typically this is part of the pressure plate assembly, but with the Xclutch design, this is separate.  

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

Last is the pressure plate itself which is what applies the force to the clutch discs.  The installation of this is slow and tedious, but important to follow.  The hardware must be installed and torqued down evenly around the perimeter, much like torquing a wheel but with a lot more lug nuts.  

X-Clutch has clear instructions on this so don’t worry.  

Mazdaspeed X-Clutch review

Bringing it back together

So your clutch is all buttoned up and now it’s time to attach the transmission to the engine.  I’ll admit this was a task I was dreading…many times I’ve fought this process because the damn input shaft in the transmission just would not line up with the clutch disc and crank, but I was pleasantly surprised.  

I don’t know if it was luck or if the alignment toll was really that perfect, but in one try the transmission slid right onto the clutch and aligned perfectly.  It was honestly shocking.   I can only hope your installation goes as smoothly.  

Now the review you have been wanting…

How does it drive, feel, engage?  Well at this point I have just over 700 miles on the setup and am making a bit over 450whp (ya, I know that will get bumped up real soon once I figure out some fueling issues).  

First impressions are great.  The peddle pressure is very similar to OEM, maybe just a hair stiffer, but is nearly identical so if you’re worried about a stiff pedal DON’T, it’s cake.  The engagement point is around the middle right now, but I expect it to move up in the pedal stroke slightly as it breaks in further.  I like this, but this is a preference thing. 

Engagement control is interesting.  Going from an ACT 6-puck ceramic to this is very similar in the “grabbiness” of the clutch since they are both ceramic puck discs, but the X-Clutch I would say is a bit more aggressive.  This makes sense with the rigid disc design and the very high torque capacity…1,350 ft/lbs!

So here’s my suggestion and you can check them out here. Learn More!

Conclusion

If you want a OE replacement with a bit more headroom for power then the Street single disc organic is going to be your closest bet.  If you want good street manners but have more power to hold then the Street Plus twin disc organic is going to be your best balance.  Lastly, if you are pursuing motorsports and high heat capacity then the Race twin disc ceramic will be your go-to clutch kit.  

I’ll be updating my review as I add miles and power, stay tuned for that!

Stay connected!

With that, I hope you enjoyed this X-Clutch Review.  Stay connected as I share more and more about the @halfmilespeed3 build…engine, seats, roll-cage, and power!  The season is finally opening up and I have a full calendar!

-CS

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